Gallery: Facebook Apps for iPad

Despite the gangbusters success of the Facebook iPhone app, for some reason the social networking behemoth has yet to do anything for the iPad. Sure there's a touch-optimized version of their page that works on any mobile device, but come on. That's not what we'd call a dedicated focus on the dominant tablet. Heck, they've even got something for the RIM Playbook, which only seven people actually own, while millions of iPads and iPad 2s ship with nary a peep from Zuckerberg, et al. Bizarre behavior, to be sure.

But fear not, because the App Store is crammed to the gills with Facebook apps just for you and your needs -- whether they be chatty, photography, video, or the whole package. And while you scan this gallery, you can be sure another six hundred developers are submitting Facebook related apps for approval. We can do just fine without you, Mark, just fine.

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Facebook Apps for All Your Needs

Chat for Facebook with Push ($0.99/Universal)This app is and does exactly what you'd expect based on its name. It's slick, can handle multiple chat sessions without worry, has all its controls built right in, and sends push notifications of received messages. If you're a big time chatter, this is the app for you.

FaceBook Talk for iPad + PUSH ($2.99/iPad)
You may not know off the top of your head what your Facebook Nickname is (the part of the URL after facebook.com in your profile) and FBTalk isn't telling. This crash-prone app was hard to start then presented our friend list in no particular order. Perhaps an update is in order?

MyPad - for Facebook (Free/iPad)Not the first app to steal a page from the official Twitter app, MyPad presents your Facebook page in a beautiful paned layout. MyPad offers the best Facebook features including chat, groups, events, and uploading and downloading photos -- and did we mention it's free?

Easy Download for Facebook ($0.99/Universal)We still aren't sure what this app does. It says it'll sync your contacts' pictures with your friends on Facebook, but despite the words "Easy" and "Download" in the name, we were never able to get it to work and couldn't figure out why. (And can't you do this for free from the official Facebook app anyway? Answer: yes.)

VideoTime for Facebook ($0.99/Universal)Ever click on a video on your iPhone in the official Facebook app, only to be told you can't watch it? Well, the makers of VideoTime saw an opportunity and stepped up. See random vids, check out your friends' postings, and bookmark both for later. Sure, it's a niche feature, but if you're mad for video, it's the way to go.

VideoGet for Facebook ($1.99/Universal)Makers of the previously mentioned VideoTime app weren't satisfied just letting you watch your friends' videos so they created this improved version that allows you to not only watch your these Facebook videos but also download them to your iDevice for later viewing.

FriendCaster for Facebook (Free/iPad)The best thing about the app isn't the Twitter-like boxing of your friends' status updates or the gallery of pictures you were tagged in on the left-hand side, but the Stream button that turns them into a Cover Flow-style, well, stream. Use their background or pick your own.

Venus for Facebook ($0.99/iPad)iLegendSoft made one of the coolest browsers, so it's no surprise their Facebook app wins hands down for prettiest app here. And it's not just book layout good looks, as this app sports awesome tabbed functionality. Our new fave for Facebook, without a doubt.

PhotoLoader HD for Facebook ($2.99)One of the biggest issues in uploading photos through your iDevice is the one-at-a-time rule. Photoloader does away with that, letting you batch upload photos and even slap one of two filters on your pix. Now you can post tons of pix of your dog, your kid, what have you.

iHandsfree for Facebook ($1.99/Universal)If you've ever had the urge to have your Facebook stream read to you in a choppy computer voice, this is the app for you. Like Voice Brief mentioned earlier, this app reads to you what your friends are up to when you don't have the time to sit down and scroll through their nonsense.

Social Stats for Facebook (Free/Universal)You get what you pay for here, with an app that purports to give you stats on Facebookers, but doesn't return anything remotely approaching reality. Every answer is 20 people like it, no matter how absurd it is. Stats can be helpful to a business, but only if they're real.

Flickpad Pro ($0.99/iPad)If you love Flickr, this is the app for you. Wait, this is a Facebook article. Well, in fact it took such a long time to find your friends' photos, we almost gave up on this app. But we're glad we stuck it out because
Flickpad is a nice way to see all kinds of photos in a pleasing random spread, like someone dumped out cool peoples' photos on a table.

Slice Browser ($4.99/iPad)Slice Browser knows how to pack our Facebook statuses and our friends' into a small space. Scroll up, down, left, right, and see it all, plus it lets us scrapbook our friends' posts (and all the comments) to enjoy for later viewing. There's something to be said for that.

Friendly Plus for Facebook ($0.99/iPad)Our first Facebook iPad app, Friendly now seems a bit stodgy comparatively. While it really just reskins the mobile site, Friendly is by far the most feature-rich of the lot, giving us access to almost everything the desktop Facebook can offer.